The former UN senior official Erik Solheim admits that he would have accepted an invitation to meet Jeffrey Epstein even after he had been convicted and registered as a sex offender, and argues that Norwegians must show greater compassion towards those involved in the Epstein case.
In an op-ed in Panorama Nyheter (owned by Norad) on Wednesday, the former Socialist Left Party minister and UN senior official Erik Solheim, remarkably, defends the Norwegian figures who have been drawn into the Epstein scandal. He compares the media’s coverage of the case with the public executions of the Middle Ages, where people gathered to take pleasure in the suffering of others.
– Could it be that deep down within ourselves we find pleasure in the misfortune of others? Because it makes us appear so great and virtuous ourselves? writes Solheim.
Would have met Epstein after the conviction
Solheim writes that he himself is not mentioned in the Epstein files, but adds that he has probably been fortunate.
– For had he contacted me in 2012 or 2013, I would almost certainly have agreed to a meeting, he writes.
Solheim justifies this by stating that “an enormous number of influential Americans” had contact with Epstein, and that he was not central in the media landscape.
However, the timeline tells a different story. As early as 2005, the police in Palm Beach began investigating Epstein after a parent reported that he had paid her 14-year-old stepdaughter to undress. Investigators identified 36 girls between the ages of 14 and 17 with similar experiences.
In June 2008, Epstein pleaded guilty and was registered as a sex offender. In 2011, he was registered as a sex offender in the highest risk category in New York.
Warns against an investigation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
The core of Solheim’s op-ed is a warning against the adopted investigation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Utenriksdepartementet) in the wake of the Epstein case. He believes the result will be a ministry with even more rules and greater bureaucracy.
– A Norwegian administration that is already terrified of making mistakes will become even more fearful. The last thing we need is more bureaucracy. What we need above all is initiative, courage, and capacity for implementation, he writes.
Instead, Solheim advocates more “unconventional diplomacy”. He believes it would be valuable if a Norwegian could cultivate informal contact with individuals such as Jared Kushner, Steve Witkoff, or members of Trump’s family.
– Whoever achieves that should be rapidly promoted within the ministry, writes Solheim.
Erik Solheim is co-chairman of the Europe-Asia Center, an NGO registered in Brussels.
Calls for compassion
Solheim emphasises that Epstein’s crimes are real and heinous, and that corruption is unacceptable. Nevertheless, he believes that the debate has gone astray.
– Can we in modern times show somewhat greater compassion than the torture-tourists of the Middle Ages? he asks.
He encourages people to hold up a mirror and ask themselves what they would have done had they encountered Epstein, and argues that fewer should cast stones.
Solheim specifies that he knows all the prominent Norwegians who have been associated with Epstein, but that none of them are close friends.